Virginia School Will Recognize Student Pro-Life Group After Lawsuit Filed

LifeNews ^ | October 24, 2007 | Steven Ertelt

[Coleus]

 A lawsuit pro-life attorneys filed on behalf of a group of students who were denied official recognition for their pro-life club apparently did the trick. Colonial Forge High School was the latest to come under fire for discriminating against pro-life students and found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the Alliance Defense Fund.

A student at the school wanted to start a pro-life student club on campus and applied for her club to become officially recognized.  Officially recognized student clubs enjoy privileges such as access to the school newspaper, bulletin boards, and the public announcement system, as well as being able to participate in student activities programs and club fairs.   Stafford County School officials denied the student's application, stating that her pro-life club “does not meet the standard of a direct curricular link.”

The school has relented and David Cortman, an Alliance Defense Fund lawyer, says the decision is a victory for the pro-life students and the First Amendment. “Christian and pro-life students are not second-class citizens; they are entitled to the same rights as any other student or student group on campus," Cortman told LifeNews.com in a
statement. "This is a victory for students who simply want to exercise their First Amendment right to express pro-life speech," he added.

As a result of the decision, ADF officials voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit on Wednesday. Stafford County school officials initially denied the student's application, stating the club did not meet the “standard of a direct curricular link” even though the district had approved other clubs without such a link. ADF attorneys filed suit against the school board on September 12. “It is discriminatory for school officials to ban a student club based on the content and viewpoints of the group,” said Cortman. “We applaud the school board officials for their decision to allow students who support the sanctity of life the same rights as all other student groups.”  The Stafford County School granted official recognition to other student groups that do not appear to have a “direct curricular link” on campuses within its district, including Young Democrats, Students Against Drunk Driving, and Key Club.

ADF filed the lawsuit for the unnamed student at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division. The case was S.H. v. School Board of Stafford County. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org

Following Lawsuit, School Welcomes Pro-Life Club

A Virginia school board has agreed to permit student pro-life clubs at high schools in its district. The clubs will receive the same rights, benefits and privileges as other clubs, including participation in school activities and club fairs.

The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) when a student’s request to start a student-led pro-life club was denied by Stafford County school officials based on the religious and political nature of the group.

David Cortman, senior legal counsel for ADF, said Christian and pro-life students are entitled to the same rights as other students.

“It is discriminatory for school officials to ban a student club based on the content and viewpoints of the group,” he said. “We applaud the school board officials for their decision to allow students who support the sanctity of life the same rights as all other student groups.”

e-mail the principal: MARTINl@staffordschools.net  Colonial Forge High School

[Coleus]

and i bet they have no problem with forming a gay/lesbian club or to give out birth control to 11-yr.olds.

[trumandogz]

Don’t forget the NARAL Club.

[ml/nj]

It is discriminatory for school officials to ban a student club based on the content and viewpoints of the group

So next the taxpayers will subsidize jihadists? How about some common sense?

ML/NJ

[PetroniusMaximus]

“So next the taxpayers will subsidize jihadists? How about some common sense?”

You get some. Comparing Pro life to Jihadist is utterly lacking in common sense.

[ml/nj]

You get some. Comparing Pro life to Jihadist is utterly lacking in common sense.

Hey Sherlock!

Wanna compare education, or test scores, or anything else, that's an indication of intelligence? The most charitable thing I can think of is that you must have difficulty with the English language.

ML/NJ

[PetroniusMaximus]

“The most charitable thing I can think of is that you must have difficulty with the English language.”

Similar to the one you seem to have with the concepts of right and wrong.

Pro life is pro-American and good.

Jihadist are anti-American and utterly evil.

There is no comparison. Your equating of the two smacks of an infantile form of moral equivalence.

Oh, by the way, they don’t teach COMMOM SENSE in school - so your various test scores wouldn’t apply.

[swmobuffalo]

Sounds like true Virginians need to rise up and send the carpetbaggers and the scalawags back where they came from!

[narses]

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[Elsiejay]

The “mainstream” press described the intended student club as “anti abortion;” just couldn’t find “pro-life” in their approved reporters/editors lexicon.

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm

[Spok]

The same thing (refusal to recognize a pro-life group) happened at my law school, which is supposedly a Jesuit school. I’ve told them to take me off their alumni list.

[Coleus]

Va. teen's antiabortion club a reality

 

Stephanie Hoffmeier (right), 16, succeeded in starting an antiabortion club at her public high school in Virginia. (Theresa Vargas/Washington Post)

WASHINGTON - For Stephanie Hoffmeier, it came down to believing in a power higher than a school system.

With prayer, persistence, and a lawsuit against the Stafford County, Va., schools, the 16-year-old recently succeeded in starting what might be the region's only antiabortion club in a public high school. The Pro-Life Club, which attracted about 20 people to its first gathering, also promotes teen sexual abstinence. Hoffmeier said her legal fight was a matter of equity.

"We just wanted the same rights as other clubs," Hoffmeier said in an interview at her Fredericksburg home. "It's not a radical thing to expect equal treatment."   Asked why she started the club, Hoffmeier said: "I feel God has put it on my heart for a pretty long time." School administrators initially turned down Hoffmeier's request to start the club at Colonial Forge High School on the grounds that it was not tied to the school curriculum. She filed suit in federal court in Alexandria, contending that her proposal could not be denied when other clubs are allowed to form on campus.  The suit put a spotlight on an often-misunderstood legal arena involving religion in public schools. Even some advocates of strict separation of church and state say religious speech by students at public school is protected under the Constitution and federal law. School officials, conceding they were wrong, officially recognized the club Oct. 24, and Hoffmeier dropped the suit.

"When we had an opportunity to review what the circumstances were, it was apparent that [school] board policy allowed for this club," David E. Sawyer, Stafford superintendent said, adding that he was not aware of the proposal until the suit. "We certainly think student organizations and clubs are important activities for youngsters. It's not an issue that we would just prohibit."  Officials in major school systems in the region said they did not know of any other school-sanctioned student antiabortion club in the area. Bryan Kemper of Ohio-based Stand True Ministries, which has sponsored a Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity in which students across the nation quietly protest abortion, said such antiabortion clubs have formed nationally at the college level and at religious high schools but are just catching on in public schools.

"Because this student decided to stand up and fight, we're seeing this one," Kemper said. "But for every student that stands up and fights, there's probably 20 who walk away."  Hoffmeier, a junior, submitted the proposal for the club at the end of the last school year. In it, she described the purpose: "To educate people about the biggest holocaust that is going on right here in the United States. To come together and pray to end abortion. To be a voice for my generation and a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves."  Sitting in her living room one day after school last week, Hoffmeier spoke about the club's mission. Members believe that unmarried teenagers should abstain from sex and that all human life is sacred, she said, but the club also is open to students who are pregnant.

"Anybody is welcomed no matter what they believe," said Hoffmeier. Hoffmeier said she has heard little more than a few skeptical questions about the club from other students. Representatives for NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, did not respond to requests for comment.  Hoffmeier's parents, Heath and Bernadette, said that they are proud of their daughter and that they support her fight.  "I was excited to see kids standing up for their rights," Bernadette Hoffmeier said. Heath Hoffmeier added: "I just think this is the way God is shaping her life."

With aid from the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, Hoffmeier filed suit Sept. 12, charging that her constitutional free-speech rights had been violated. Stafford schools had recognized such clubs as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Key Club, Young Republicans and Young Democrats, according to the suit. "There is a discomfort with religious speech in the schools even when it's engaged in by students, which should not be the case," said David Cortman, a lawyer with the defense fund. "Once they open up the facility to clubs, merely . . . allowing a religious club in the mix does not promote religion."

[jwalsh07]

God bless her and those like her.

[Salvation]

BTTT for the pro-lifers!